Category: Reviews

Sadhus “The Smoking Community” – Big Fish (Review)

Sadhus The Smoking Community - Big FishThis is the second album from Sadhus “The Smoking Community”, a sludge metal band from Greece.

After enjoying their 2016 split with Agnes Vein, this is my first chance to get to grips with a Sadhus “The Smoking Community” full length album. Big Fish gives us 34 minutes of smoky heaviness and savage stoner doom sludge. Continue reading “Sadhus “The Smoking Community” – Big Fish (Review)”

Ævangelist – Matricide in the Temple of Omega (Review)

Ævangelist - Matricide in the Temple of OmegaThis is the latest abomination from Ævangelist, a blackened atmospheric death metal monstrosity from the US/Finland.

Something is moving in the night. Something is writhing in the murk. It’s ugly, foul, and destined to cloud everything in a miasma of disgusting horror. Continue reading “Ævangelist – Matricide in the Temple of Omega (Review)”

Funeral Chic – Superstition (Review)

Funeral Chic - SuperstitionThis is the second album from US blackened hardcore band Funeral Chic.

Fourteen tracks of violent, foul, ugly blackened hardcore? Yes please! How could I resist? Continue reading “Funeral Chic – Superstition (Review)”

Barbarian Hermit – Solitude and Savagery (Review)

Barbarian Hermit - Solitude and SavageryThis is the debut album from Barbarian Hermit, a stoner/sludge metal band from the UK.

With a thick, heavy sound, Barbarian Hermit explode out of the speakers with big riffs and a forceful presence. No messing around, no stupid intros, just straight into the good stuff. Just as I like it. Continue reading “Barbarian Hermit – Solitude and Savagery (Review)”

Sigh – Heir to Despair (Review)

Sigh - Heir to DespairSigh are a Japanese black/avant-garde metal band and this is their eleventh album.

A new Sigh album is always somewhat of an event, and you never really quite know what you’re going to be getting yourself into with it. This latest album follows on after the symphonic blackened offering of 2015’s Graveward, but distances itself from its predecessor quite significantly by giving us 53 minutes of material that’s been influenced by folk and old/obscure progressive rock more than ever before. Continue reading “Sigh – Heir to Despair (Review)”

1914 – The Blind Leading the Blind (Review)

1914 - The Blind Leading the Blind1914 are a Ukrainian blackened death/doom band and this is their second album.

I enjoy 1914’s work a lot, (check out Eschatology of War and their split with Minenwerfer, for example). With an appropriate concept for a band with this name, their latest creation is crushingly heavy and full of monolithic songs that devastate and destroy. Continue reading “1914 – The Blind Leading the Blind (Review)”

Burning Witches – Hexenhammer – (Review)

Burning Witches - HexenhammerHexenhammer are a heavy metal band from Switzerland and this is their second album.

Featuring a member of Ursinne, here we have 48 minutes of old-school heavy metal spiced up with elements of speed/thrash and power metal here and there. Continue reading “Burning Witches – Hexenhammer – (Review)”

Psycroptic – As the Kingdom Drowns (Review)

Psycroptic - As the Kingdom DrownsPsycroptic are an Australian technical death metal band and this is their seventh album.

I massively, hugely enjoyed 2015’s self-titled album, and the more I’ve got to know it over the years the more I’ve come to appreciate just how good of a record it is. Continue reading “Psycroptic – As the Kingdom Drowns (Review)”

Cult Leader – A Patient Man (Review)

Cult Leader - A Patient ManCult Leader are a progressive hardcore/crust band from the US and this is their second album.

A Patient Man gives us 48 minutes of dense, chaotic violence and intensity, but also much more than this. Continue reading “Cult Leader – A Patient Man (Review)”